This year religious education had ousted German from the top 10 of the most popular subjects to study at GCSE.David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the fall should serve as a “wake-up call” to ministers. In maths, there was a 1.1 percentage-point fall in C grades or above.There was also a drop in the number of candidates opting for modern languages, which experts believe will be extended now the subject is to be made voluntary at 14 from September. In effect, it meant there were 170,000 more failed papers from candidates this year. Every grade below C showed a decline in the pass rate this year.There was a decline in the pass rates in maths, French and German. But it was the drop in the overall pass rate from 97.9 per cent to 97.6 at the bottom end that was causing most concern. That’s wrong.”At A* to A grade, the pass rate went up from 16.4 per cent to 16.7 per cent.

The 0.2 percentage point rise in A* to C grade passes to 58.1 per cent, however, was far lower than the target agreed by the Department for Education and Skills with the Treasury, of a 2 point rise. “The gap between the best and worst is widening under Labour,” he added.John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said the Government’s insistence on school targets for the percentage of pupils getting five A* to C grade passes was “encouraging us to pay less attention to the children at the lower end by its concentration. A survey by employers to be published next month would show one in three firms was dissatisfied with the literacy and numeracy skills of young people.Damian Green, the Conservatives’ education spokesman, said the results were “a huge educational problem but also a problem for wider society. They said that – at a time when prominent education figures such as Mike Tomlinson, who is chairing the Government’s inquiry into exams reform, were saying high-flyers could bypass GCSEs in future – the exam was failing those youngsters who needed it most as a qualification.Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, said the “scandalous weakness” in schools meant there were “too many people who lack the basic abilities to step into today’s world of work”. Figures yesterday showed that national curriculum test results for primary schools had failed to improve standards in maths and English in the past two years.The drop in the pass rate was seized on by employers, teachers’ leaders and opposition spokesmen as evidence that Labour was neglecting the needs of the weakest candidates.

Some estimates suggest the number of children leaving school with no qualifications, a total of 30,000 last year, could double.Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education, admitted the Government was facing “real challenges” over GCSEs. But the overall pass rate – grades A* to G – fell from 97.9 per cent last year to 97.6 per cent, meaning 170,000 more papers were fails. The results are a severe embarrassment to Tony Blair – elected on a programme of giving top priority to education – because this year’s candidates spent all their secondary school years under his administration.Figures show the numbers obtaining A* and A-grade passes and those obtaining A* to C grade passes rose to 16.7 per cent and 58.1 per cent respectively. The GCSE pass rate fell to its lowest level for more than a decade this summer when tens of thousands of 16-year-olds left school with nothing to show for 11 years of education. The biggest rise was in GNVQ Intermediate Part One courses – which are worth two good GCSE passes – where entries almost doubled, from 38,299 to 75,663. Schools have been accused of pushing pupils into these courses because they are worth double the points in exam league tables.. This year, the numbers taking RE as a short course rose from 201,854 to 223,885.Meanwhile, the popularity of vocational exams has rocketed this summer, with the number of entries in some courses jumping by nearly 100 per cent.